ConnectDER unveils next-gen meter socket adapter ‘IslandDER’

ConnectDER, a US provider of home energy technology for distributed energy resources (DER), has unveiled a next-generation meter socket adapter (MSA), the “IslandDER,” designed to integrate with the utility grid.

The “IslandDER” is designed to integrate with the utility grid and enable islanding of solar, battery storage, electric vehicles (EVs), and other distributed energy resources, for whole-home backup and resiliency.

With the product launch, the company also announced a $34M in Series D funding to accelerate its market expansion and product development.

The round was led by Decarbonization Partners, a partnership between BlackRock and Temasek, with participation from MassMutual Ventures, both new investors. Existing investors Avista Development, Clean Energy Ventures, Energy Innovation Capital, Evergy Ventures, LG Technology Ventures, and Zoma Capital also participated.

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“With this latest Series D funding we’re poised to not only expand our existing markets but also our offerings by bringing a transformative solution for energy storage systems to the market,” said Ivo Steklac, CEO of ConnectDER.

“Our forthcoming IslandDER enables homes to disconnect and reconnect from the grid enabling customers to harness stored energy from solar plus battery systems or EVs providing innovative backup power and resilience to market at an incredibly competitive cost point.”

In the US, 60 million homes lack the capacity for solar, EV-charging, or resilient energy solutions without costly equipment upgrades, according to electrification nonprofit Rewiring America. ConnectDER claims its products are installed in minutes and cost 10% (or more) less than the cost of upgrading a home’s service panel and/or utility interconnect. The company argues that by simplifying interconnections, its products can reduce training complexity and installation errors.

ConnectDER plans to use this investment for market expansion, scaling manufacturing, and continued product development. With over 25,000 adapters in operation and approved for use in many states, ConnectDER said it expects to be selling nationwide in the next few years.

Whitman Fulton, ConnectDER’s founder and CPO, was a speaker at this year’s GridTECH Connect Forum in Newport Beach, California, in a session discussing how IOUs are trying to make the interconnection experience smoother, including PG&E’s innovative vehicle-to-grid pilot and SDG&E’s Builder’s Express program.

Last year, New Jersey took another step to support state residents who want to easily connect rooftop solar, battery storage, and electric vehicle chargers to their homes, passing a bill requiring public electric utilities in the Garden State to authorise the installation and operation of a “meter collar adapter,” as long as it meets specific requirements for safety, suitability, and adherence to the National Electrical Code.

ConnectDER is one company to offer a UL-listed “plug-and-play” collar or meter socket adapter (MSA) that is meant to safely integrate a variety of energy resources and tie them into the distribution grid at the meter, and at the time the company said it was planning to make meter adapters widely available throughout the region.

In 2020, ConnectDER was one part of one of five teams selected by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to receive awards under the first two rounds of the Future Grid Challenge aimed at developing solutions to integrate clean and renewable energy into the electric grid. Under the project, ConnectDER, UL/AWS Truepower, and Itron were selected to deploy a low-cost monitoring technology and develop a new communication system to integrate aggregated solar data directly into Con Edison’s existing Advanced Meter Infrastructure (AMI).

Originally published on, and edited with permission from, Power Grid International by Sean Wolfe.